You're a fake!

38Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" -Matthew 27

I wonder, do we ignore the events leading up to the crucifixion? For whatever reason, the details of the events are suddenly proving more interesting than they used to. These two verses, for instance. So Jesus was insulted. We know that. Big deal. But take a minute to think about it. Where are the insults coming from? And why waste all that breath on two complete complex sentences? Why not just call him a liar, a cheat, or if you were really that pissed, why not bastard? (After all, Mary did get "mysteriously" pregnant, right?) What had their blood boiling enough to let off that much steam?

There's a bitterness underneath these insults, a bitterness that comes from the fact that the feel like Jesus lied to them. "You said that you were going to save us! You promised! If you are really who you said you are, and if you can really do what you said you would, prove to us that you are who say you are!" They are hurt. They feel cheated and lied to. They had hoped that he would save them, and he isn't (so it seems). So they walk on by, and insult him, with mockery that lets him know exactly how they feel.


What insults are you hurling?

Laments

NEWS FLASH: Lazarus still died.

Yea, Jesus raised him from the dead. But Lazarus still died. And he died later on down the road, too.

The bible ain't all rainbows and roses and blind following. People have beefs with God and they take them up with him. Yea, there are a dozen psalms that are rather emo, Psalm 88 definetly being one of them. But there's also an entire book devoted to these. Ever hear of Lamentations? Yea. That book. It's an entire book of laments. "He has made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones." That was verse 4. Multiply that by about 66 and you've got chapter 3 of Lamentations--and there are 5 of them.

Some may view laments and cries as faithless whinings. I beg to differ. Being willing to completely lay it out for God, blow by blow--this is everything that I can't stand, about me, about life, about you, about your plans, this path you've laid for me, takes an immense amount of faith. Let me tell you, crying out even just a third of the verses of Psalm 88 into a microphone at church on Sunday had me trembling--these are hard, dark, rugged, anguished verses, and they are in the bible. They are in the Bible. And here I am, proclaiming it. Not the way you'd expect someone to proclaim the Word of God:
"You have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.

Your wrath lies heavily upon me;
you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah

You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape;
my eyes are dim with grief." (Ps 88:6-9)

But yet, there I was, my voice alone in a room of 50 people, putting forth those words.
And these are valid words. These are valid words to express. And God knows them, and knows me.
It takes faith to walk to the throne of God and say, This is not fair! I am hurt by this! And I don't want to take it anymore! It's a level of faith to which I have been challenged.


Something I've been returning to is an image from Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. I saw it in high school, but a few weeks ago, they played a clip of it at IV. There was this one scene when Jesus (or at least, the actor playing Jesus) gets flung onto the cross on the ground. The camera is just above the ground, pointed along the crossbeam. Jesus, completely bloodied, lands on the cross and his head rolls to the side and looks towards the camera. And in that moment, I remember: this is Divinty. This beaten, brusied, bloodied, weakened, exhausted man getting manhandled and flung onto a cross for which he was not meant is God. This was no mere man, being wrongfully accused. This was God.

He knows this pain. Whatever pain it is, he knows it. He knows the hopelessness, the wieght of the darkness. He knows it, because he experienced it. That gut-turning ache inside when everything falls? He knows it. And he died to save you from it, so that death may be conquered and you shall live--despite everything in your body that feels otherwise.

On that day long ago, on that hill, God twisted the "rules." He said, This, what you've done, deserves death. But it will be _my_ death.

The Character of God, Issue No. 2

Genesis 2:19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

God is curious! And he delights in his creatures! "He brought them to the man to see what he would name them"! And God takes pleasure in the work of his creature, giving to him what he wishes "whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name."

=D

The Character of God, Issue No. 1

I will write more here later about something I learned about God in John 1 a few weeks ago.

1 Corinthians 13

How often do we wait on God?

I've been pondering 1 Corinthians 13 for a few days, something that I've never done before. Heck, I doubt I've ever read it more than once, because, after all, it's that spot in the Bible reserved for those happy couples getting married, right? Ergo, not applicable to me. Ha. I'm learning some interesting things from this chapter...

What does it mean to persevere? How often do we wait on God?

I can handle hard circumstances. I can handle doing brave things at the right time, generally. But can I handle hard circumstances for the long haul?

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Love always perseveres.
This requires faith and hope. Perseverance requires hope.

Jesus persevered. Three years spent traveling the desert country to teach and to bring his people to him. Three years of hardship, of knowing that this was all going to end in his death anyway. Is it all worth it?
And at the end of these three years, everything wasn’t resolved all nice and pretty. Instead, his perseverance was rewarded with betrayal, humiliation, and 6 hours on a cross—a criminal’s tree. His perseverance was rewarded with the sum of our scorn and sin.
But he persevered because he saw us. He persevered because he had hope that his children, the children he loves, would come to know the Father and spend eternity with them, and be made new.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.